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The Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons

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Evaluating Optimal Timing for Practice Advertisement of Botox: A Study of Seasonal and Overall Patterns in Botox Interest Using Google Trends
Arvin M. Smith, BA1, Corinne Wee, MD2, Yida Cai, BS1, Samuel Boas, BS1, Mohamed Awad, MD2, Anand Kumar, MD2.
1Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland Heights, OH, USA, 2University Hospital, Cleveland Heights, OH, USA.

BACKGROUND:
Botulinum toxin A (BOTOX) injections for facial rejuvenation remains a popular minimally invasive cosmetic procedure. Optimal seasonal timing for practice advertisement to maximally capture future patients remains understudied. Google trends is a powerful database that documents relative search volume since January 2004 and allows analysis of trends over time. We hypothesized that interest in Botox injections has 1) increased in popularity over the past 15 years and 2) there is a seasonal interest. The aim of this study was to evaluate consumer interest and seasonal variability in Botox in order to identify optimal timing of practice advertisement in the United States.
METHODS:
The search term “Botox” was used in the Google trends database. Data points collected were relative search volume per month. Statistical analysis was performed using the “season” package on R Version 3.6.0. A non-stationary cosinor model was fitted and analyzed to determine both significant trends over time and seasonal patterns.
RESULTS:
Relative search volume of “botox” trended downward by 30.0% from January 2004 to February 2006 (95% CI: [18.0%, 40.6%]), however it has trended upwards as of June 2019 by 158.1% (95% CI: [125.9%,197.3]). Cosinor analysis showed significant seasonality (p<0.025). The highest number of searches were performed in mid-March (mean 3.5, p<0.025) and the fewest searches were performed in mid-September (mean 9.5, p<0.025). The highest search volumes are in Florida, followed by Arizona, Nevada, California, and Colorado, while the lowest are in Wisconsin, Maine and Iowa.
CONCLUSIONS:
There are significant seasonal and regional trends associated with Botox Internet searches, in addition to an overall increase in popularity since 2004. Evaluation of these temporal and geographic trends are especially useful for providers when considering marketing strategies. Further study is needed regarding the effectiveness of specific Internet marketing strategies on search trends.


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